Madeline “Mac” Maclin is the former Miss Parkland, Parkland being a fictitious city in the North Carolina Piedmont. Mac has left the pageant world behind for a new career as a private investigator. Love (or, the hope of love) takes her to the small town of Celosia (also fictional) where she sets out to solve mysteries and wear down her boyfriend’s reluctance to give up his questionable businesses and settle down.

Celosia is a town with its share of good folks and crazies. Each novel is populated with memorable people from boyfriend Jerry to local bookstore owner Georgia, to Ted Stacy (potential rival to Jerry), to the “Pageantoids”–beauty pageant enthusiasts who are sure that Mac’s coaching could help some local girl become Miss North Carolina. As Mac struggles to get people to take her seriously, danger and humor intertwine.